One of our county commissioners recently toured a data center campus in Allen, Texas that is approximately 50 megawatts in size.

I was not present for that tour, and I have only heard second-hand accounts. So rather than attributing specific statements, I want to frame this carefully:

If a commissioner believes that a proposed 1,500+ megawatt data center and energy complex in Leon County would be “no big deal” based on a visit to a 50 megawatt facility, that belief is based on a flawed comparison.

Not because the Allen facility is unsafe.
Not because data centers are inherently bad.

But because a 50 megawatt facility and a 1,500+ megawatt industrial power campus are not remotely the same class of infrastructure.

They are not comparable in scale, impact, or risk.

Start with the simple math

50 megawatts versus 1,500+ megawatts.

That is roughly a 30 times difference in size.

Not 30 percent bigger.
Not double.
Thirty times larger.

Using a 50 MW site to judge a 1,500+ MW project is like test-driving a golf cart and then approving a fleet of 18-wheelers based on that experience.

Scale changes everything

At around 50 megawatts, you are generally talking about:

  • Smaller electrical infrastructure
  • Fewer high-voltage components
  • Limited substations
  • Smaller transformer yards
  • Lower fault current levels
  • Lower total stored energy

At 1,500+ megawatts, you are talking about:

  • Multiple large substations
  • Massive high-voltage transmission interconnections
  • Large transformer farms
  • Industrial-scale cooling systems
  • Vast amounts of stored electrical and thermal energy
  • A completely different hazard profile

These are different categories of industrial development.

Fire and failure risk does not scale linearly

Risk does not increase in a straight line.

It is not:

50 MW = 1 unit of risk
1,500 MW = 30 units of risk

It is closer to:

50 MW = small industrial hazard
1,500 MW = regional disaster-scale hazard

Larger systems fail harder.
They burn longer.
They store more energy.
They involve higher voltages.

That is why national fire codes treat large energy systems differently than small ones.

Urban versus rural context matters

The Allen campus exists inside city limits in a major metro area.

That means:

  • Full-time professional fire departments
  • Dedicated code enforcement
  • Noise ordinances with staff to enforce them
  • Inspectors on payroll
  • Substantial municipal budgets

Leon County is rural and relies primarily on volunteer fire departments.

According to statements made in Commissioners Court, the county has said it cannot enforce basic fire codes.

That raises an obvious question:

If the county says it cannot enforce fire codes, who exactly is supposed to enforce noise limits, lighting restrictions, or operational conditions at a massive industrial facility?

Who shows up on behalf of Leon County?
What department?
What staff?
What authority?

If we can’t enforce fire safety, it is not realistic to claim we will meaningfully enforce noise, lighting, or operational impacts.

Noise comparisons are not straightforward

Even at the Allen site, I was told the commissioner mentioned that:

  • It “wasn’t loud,” and
  • Tour guides had phone apps measuring decibel levels.

Two important points:

  1. Phone apps are not regulatory instruments.
  2. Noise depends heavily on what type of data center it is.

A traditional enterprise data center, an AI-focused data center, and a cryptocurrency mining facility all have very different noise profiles and power characteristics.

Inside the buildings:

  • Server density
  • Cooling technology
  • Airflow design
  • Fan speed
  • Compressor type

All affect noise.

Outside the buildings:

  • Cooling towers
  • Chillers
  • Generators
  • Transformers
  • Substations

All contribute additional sound.

A hyperscale campus with dozens of buildings and massive cooling infrastructure is not comparable to a single 50 MW site.

What the tour actually shows

Touring a 50 MW data center shows what a small data center looks like.

It does not show:

  • What a 1,500+ MW power campus looks like
  • What its electrical footprint looks like
  • What its transformer yards look like
  • What its cumulative noise profile looks like
  • What its emergency response requirements look like

Using that tour to justify a project thirty times larger is not a technical evaluation. It is a false equivalency.

The real question Leon County should be asking

Not:

“Did someone tour a small data center?”

But:

“What standards, safeguards, and enforcement mechanisms are required for a 1,500+ megawatt industrial power complex in a rural county?”

That means:

  • Documented compliance with national fire and life-safety standards
  • Site-specific emergency response planning
  • Independent technical review
  • Clear, funded enforcement mechanisms

Before approvals.
Before abatements.
Before construction.

Bottom line

A 50 MW tour tells us almost nothing about a 1,500+ MW proposal.

Scale matters.
Context matters.
Enforcement capacity matters.

Leon County deserves decisions based on realistic comparisons and hard facts — not impressions formed from facilities that are thirty times smaller.